This beer was brewed and barreled back in 2009, bottled in late 2012/early 2013. So before you even receive it, Boon’s Geuze Mariage Parfait has been aging for over 3 years. Nice! And what a beer it is—the perfect blend of old world brewing via 100% spontaneous fermentation and timing (hence the name “Mariage Parfait”, which means, in French, “perfect marriage” or “perfect wedding”). Pours a deep straw color, very slightly hazy but mostly clear...

Seizoen Bretta is a saison that underwent primary fermentation with four (4!) Saccharomyces yeasts, followed by a secondary fermentation with a single Brettanomyces strain. It’s got four types of malts, four types of hops (whole cones only, thank you very much), and each bottle gets a dose of organic pear juice, allowing the beer to referment and naturally carbonate. Seizoen Bretta pours a bright, golden-orange color with a modest amount of haze...

Known in Germany as “Donnersberger,” this beer is Bischoff’s interpretation of a “schwarzbier” (literally “blackbeer”). The style tends to trip up those who haven’t experienced it before; newbies often think because it’s dark in color that it must be heavy with a lot of bitter roastiness. But the reality is that schwarzbiers are very easy drinking lagers that embrace the maltier side of things without sacrificing refreshment. Bischoff’s black lager pours a...

This brew pours a clear and very dark reddish-brown mahogany with a beige head. Look for toasted grain aromas to be quite prominent on the nose, accompanied by hints of coffee, notes of burnt caramel, some mild impressions of toffee, along with a bit of lager yeast mustiness. We also found some fruity impressions lurking in the aroma, tending toward honeyed, ripe red apples and a bit of grape skins. Hops, accompanied by some...

Mendocino considers this amber ale to be their flagship brew, and we think it’s a good one to carry the banner. Pouring a pure amber color with a robust head of light beige foam, Red Tail offers up a pleasing and fairly robust caramel malt aroma with notes of toasted bread and just a touch of implied sweetness. Look for a somewhat floral and citric hop note with an accompanying hint of minerality. On the palate, this amber ale bursts forth with a...

Brewed since 1985, this golden-hued brew drops plenty of lace as you drink down the glass, and presents a sturdy pale malt aroma with touches of caramel, overlaid with mildly floral and citric hops notes as well as some touches of apple skin. On the palate, we enjoyed Blue Heron’s smooth and creamy attitude as well as its balance, as a fairly toasty and somewhat bready malt character is confronted by a very clean Warrior hop bitterness...

As we would expect, this double IPA is the hoppiest beer that Crown Valley produces, made with five different hop varietals and weighing in at a very firm 93 IBUs. Offering an inviting golden amber color on the pour capped by a fluffy head of sticky foam, Gunslinger presents a beautifully soft and complex hop aroma overlaying notes of caramel. Dominated by fruity citric notes of grapefruit and orange, the hop aroma also provides hints of earth, mint...

Brewed in the style of a Belgian dubbel, Big Bison Ale pours a dark amber color with reddish highlights and a sizeable head that drops nice lacing as it recedes. On the nose, look for a pronounced dark fruit character, offering notes of raisin, plum, fig, and perhaps a bit of apple. There’s plenty of bready malt as well, along with caramel and brown sugar notes capped by some spicy and earthy hints. These aromas come through on the palate as well...